 (incredible photo by the amazing Evan Fedorko!) I have been helping to coach my son's mountain bike team. The Morgantown Trail Hawks are part of the National Interscholastic Cycling Association (NICA for short). I love the emphasis on getting more kids outside and active, regardless of their skill level. We have some super competive kids who will likely be on the world stage in just a few years. Most of the kids in the group I work with are more concerned with having fun than winning medals. Riding with these kids in the Party Pace Group a few days each week, reminds me about why I do some of the things that I do day in and day out. I am able to just pick up and go for a 14 mile rail trail ride partially because of my regular running routine that I have had for years now. I can power up some of the rocky, rooty hills at Coopers Rock in part because of the squats that I do in my strength training. I can feel confident in my bike shorts becuase of the health choices that I make. I want to be the 75-year-old grandma biking in the mountains with my grandkids. That dream starts long before I reach the age of 75 ... I have to train for it now! What motivates you to make your health choices? What do you want to be able to do now and 30 years from now? Maybe for you it is travel. Maybe it is missions work. Maybe it is playing with the little kids God puts in your life at that time. In my private coaching practice, I work with busy women who do ALL.THE.THINGS ... but then end up feeling used up and exhausted by dinnertime. They want to have the energy after the have-to-dos to actually enjoy and be present for their people and to pursue their passions ... long into their later years. If that sounds like you, click on the button below to schedule a complimentary 15 min Strategy Session and we can work together to develop new healthy self-care habits so that you are having fun being active with your favorite people now and years from now!
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I just learned the other day that kids my son's age will tell each other to "touch grass." I might not understand completely, but I got the impression it means, "You have been surrounded by these sterile walls and have been staring at screens for too long. Get yourself some fresh air!" I was refreshed to hear that this little phrase has worked its way into teen-speak. It gives me hope that my son's generation seems to understand that getting outside really is important. I've been fascinated by some of the research that I've learned about recently. We are learning that there are some positive chemical and hormonal changes that occur in our bodies when we walk barefoot in the grass or wade in natural water or even look at a picture of a beautiful outdoor scene. One interesting study found that hearing more variety of bird songs on a walk increased mood greater than hearing just a few birdsongs. It just makes sense to me that we were created to thrive better when we are surrounded by things that God made rather than things that man has made. So what are you going to do today to "touch grass?!" In my private health coaching practice, I help busy Christian moms adopt simple health habits, like getting outside regularly, so they can love the body God gave them and have the energy to be All In for their families. If that sounds like you, use the link on this page to request my complimentary Loving the Body God Gave Me Workbook. This workbook will walk you through exploring some of what scripture says on this topic. By the end you will have developed a simple first step towards caring for your body so that you can best care for the people who mean the most to you.   * image from pngtree.com I just celebrated another birthday ... man those things seem to happen every year! I'm learning that my nutrition habits, which have never been excellent, really do need a revamp. I can't get away with what I used to be able to get away with nutritionally! There are a lot of ideas out there on what it takes to change a habit. Most people are familiar with the thought that if you do something for 30 days, it will then be a habit. I don’t necessarily disagree, but I think there is a lot more to it than that. And the danger in that concept is that if you miss a day, you are back to square 1 … which for a lot of people is enough to send them into a tailspin. (I’m a failure … I’ll never get this right … etc. Been there?!) The way I explain habit development to clients is using the analogy of a hiking trail in the woods. Imagine that like Anne of Green Gables, you have a trail through the woods that links your house with that of your best friend. That trail has been there for years and because you spend every day with your friend, it is nice and clear. Suppose one day you decide that you want to make a new trail so that you can walk past a particular berry bush on your way to your friend’s place. The first time you go that way it is going to be very difficult. You will have to do a lot of work to clear the new trail. But the more often you take that trail, the more clear and packed down it will become. The old trail is still there, but every day it becomes more overgrown because you aren’t walking down it. If you do take the old trail one day, it doesn’t mean your new one is totally gone. You just want to get back to the new one to continue the process of making the new trail wider, more packed down, and easier to travel. And by traveling the new trail more often, you are also letting the old trail become more overgrown and forgotten. This is literally what is happening with the neurons in your brain as you are establishing a new habit. New pathways are being built that make it easier to do the new habit each time. And concurrently, the old pathways are being forgotten. If you slip into your old pattern one day, you simply need to get back to the new one the next time. It is still there! And, it gets easier every time you do it. So I am currently working on creating some new neural pathways around planning for, shopping for, cooking, and eating food. I know it won't be an overnight process and I won't stick to the new pathways every time, but I can still create a new default path over time. Are you working on developing some new health habit "paths?" Or are you ready to get started creating some? Use the link below to schedule a complimentary 15min strategy session to learn how health coaching could help support your new path creation!  We had the opportunity the past few days to get away and enjoy a mini-vacation. Rock climbing, mountain biking, bouldering, trail running ... and a whole lot of porch sitting and living room movie watching was on the menu. It was a nice chance to de-stress. So, what is the big deal about stress anyway?
It is no secret that our stress levels impact our health. Stress in and of itself is not necessarily a bad thing. God gave our bodies an automatic response to prepare us to handle tough situations well. The problem in our modern society tends to be that the stressors we experience don’t have a defined end point so our stress response doesn't shut off. According to the Cleveland Clinic, long-term stress can result in high blood pressure, a weak immune system, and depression … to name just a few! So what can we do about stress? In some cases, we can actually address the thing causing the stress. Your job is stressful? Change jobs. But, as you can see with that example, these tend to be big changes that can cause more stress in the short term. So in most cases, the only real option available to you is to address your response to the stress. There are many different techniques and I encourage people that I work with to identify a few that they can try. What works for one person, or even one situation, may not work for another person or a different situation. Here are some of my favorites I have heard from people over the years: Take a walk (or any form of exercise) Light a candle and enjoy the aroma for a few seconds Call a friend Read a book Take a bath Pray Pet a dog or cat Garden Think of something to be thankful for Take some deep breaths None of these activities will actually change the situation that is causing the stress, but they halt the physical stress response in the body so that those long-term health consequences can be avoided. And, they equip you to continue your day as a contributor, despite the challenges life throws your way. What strategies do you think you could try? In my private health coaching practice, I help busy Christian moms adopt simple health habits like developing a list of stress-management ideas that works for them so they can love the body God gave them and have the energy to be All In for their families. If that sounds like you, use the link on this page to request my complimentary Loving the Body God Gave Me Workbook. This workbook will walk you through exploring some of what scripture says on this topic. By the end you will have developed a simple first step towards caring for your body so that you can best care for the people who mean the most to you.  I know this is a bit of a shift from what most of my blogs are about, but it was on my heart ... so here we go!
A friend who moved away a few years ago was back in town the other day. We got together so we could chat and our kids could all run through the woods like wild things and get out their energy on the trampoline. As we were catching up, she asked about my experience with foster care. A friend of hers was considering opening her home to a child. Her question to me brought back memories of a challenging time in the life of my family. So I shared, maybe a bit too bluntly and honestly, just how difficult it is to literally invite a difficult situation into your home. While over the years we have had many children stay with us short-term for respite, we did have one child (who I will call “D”) as a part of our family for a summer. It was difficult for my “stuck-with-me-forever-since-birth” son because D wanted to do everything he did. And shadow him around everywhere. And touch all of his things. It was difficult for my husband because being a “substitute father” for things like teaching D to ride a bike ment robbing D’s actual father of that experience. It was difficult for me because I constantly had the feeling my parenting was under the microscope with agency workers, guardian-ad-litems, friends, and family. There were also unique challenges you don’t think of like having to drive 20 minutes into town before bedtime each night on a camping trip so that we could get cell service and D could have his goodnight call with his mom and dad. But while with foster parenting you are inviting a difficult situation into your home, that “difficult situation” is in the package of an actual small human who has not at all chosen to be in this situation. And while I don’t want to gloss over the fact that being a foster parent is hard, it pales in comparison to how hard it is to be a kid in foster care. And that is why we do it. Because if we can be a soft landing even for a short time for a kid who is dealing with and will continue to deal with some very difficult stuff, it is worth it. Even if that means we are inviting “difficult” into our lives so that we can somehow share in and diffuse their difficulty, it is worth it. Galatians 6:2 says “Share one another’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ.” The parable that Jesus tells about the sheep and the goats gives the impression that feeding and providing clothing and inviting into our homes “the least of these” is really synonymous with doing the same for God himself. Maybe you don’t live in a place where foster care is such a big problem. But I’m sure it won’t take you long to come up with “the least of these” that are within your reach. And maybe you do have a heart for kids in foster care, but would not be able to be foster parents. We are currently serving as part of a care team through our church for a foster family. Maybe you could reach out to a foster family in your area and offer to provide a meal or take a kid to a movie or a playground for an afternoon? D did go back home after a few months with us. We have had the privilege of being able to keep in contact with him and his family. I recently went with him to a WVU basketball game. The attendance at the game was similar to the number of children who are in foster care in our state. It was sobering to look around the arena knowing that fact. Thankfully, D is no longer included in that count. In fact, he doesn’t even remember that he was ever in foster care. But somewhere inside of him, he knows that he can do hard things. And I know that my family and I can do hard things too.  Do you find it challenging to muster up the motivation to exercise? Maybe you just haven’t found the right fit for you!
I find many people that I work with are overwhelmed by all of the exercise options. Or the picture they have in their minds about what it will be like to exercise just feels like a lot! A lot of people pushing exercise programs online are convinced that their particular brand of exercise is THE BEST. That can make you feel like anything else isn’t going to be good enough. For those who are just getting started (or getting started again) with exercise, the best exercise for you is the exercise that you will actually do! I encourage my clients to view this process as a series of experiments. If you try something and you hate it, fine. Try something else! There is sooooo much variety out there! While I can’t promise that you will find something you love (though you might!), surely you can find something you don’t dread. And give yourself permission to start ridiculously small. Anything more than what you are doing right now is a step in the right direction. You literally have the rest of your life to build up from there … unless you never get started! In my private health coaching practice, I help busy Christian moms adopt simple health habits like developing an exercise routine that works for them so they can love the body God gave them and have the energy to be All In for their families. If that sounds like you, use the link on this page to request my complimentary Loving the Body God Gave Me Workbook. This workbook will walk you through exploring some of what scripture says on this topic. By the end you will have developed a simple first step towards caring for your body so that you can best care for the people who mean the most to you.  As a health coach, I am often asked about nutritional supplements. Often, when people decide to get serious about their health, one of the first things that comes to mind is getting on a good supplement regimen.
Truthfully, I think it is less complicated than that. I believe supplements should be just that … a supplement to an already good diet. You want to be pretty confident that you are getting most of the nutrients you need from the actual foods that you are eating. With the exception of those who are dealing with a specific medical condition, most people are capable of getting all the nutrients they need from their food. I would even suggest that if people are depending on nutritional supplements for their nutrition rather than food, they are most certainly going to come up short. Don’t you just love how God feeds our curiosity by continuing to provide deeper and deeper levels of discovery about how perfectly he has designed our world for us? Nutritional science is a wonderful example of this. In the early 1900s, we discovered that foods contain vitamins. These vitamins are the ones you find on general nutrition labels. Vitamins C, B, D etc. We learned that some diseases like rickets and scurvy were a result of not having enough of some of these vitamins that are found naturally in abundance in fruits and vegetables. But because not everyone had access to fruits and vegetables (think sailors on a ship), it seemed like a good idea to extract these vitamins from their natural source and provide them in a pill form. And that probably was a good idea for those populations … but the discoveries continued. Fast forward a few decades and we discovered antioxidants. Lo and behold, they are found in colorful fruits and veggies … but we also did our best to extract them and sell them in pill form as well. Next were phytochemicals and phytonutrients … guess where you can find them naturally?! We’ve also learned that, in many cases, what different nutrients are packaged with affects how they are absorbed and used in our bodies. A certain vitamin might not mix well with another unless a third is present in the correct ratio, for example. When we manufactured them and put them together in a lab sometimes they actually had detrimental effects because of what we put together or left out. Thankfully, God got it right when he made the foods that we are supposed to be eating. And all of that is probably just the beginning! What will we discover in the next few decades that will continue to build on what we already know? Another way of saying that ... what isn't in our supplements yet that we will discover down the road?! The bottom line for me is that God packaged our nutrients in amazing ways that we don’t even fully understand yet. And the best way to get them is … surprise, surprise … eating a variety of whole fruits and veggies. In my private health coaching practice, I help busy Christian moms adopt simple health habits so they can love the body God gave them and have the energy to be All In for their families. Finding ways to incorporate more fruits and veggies is often one of the habits we explore together. If that sounds like you, use the link on this page to request my complimentary Loving the Body God Gave Me Workbook. This workbook will walk you through exploring some of what scripture says on this topic. By the end you will have developed a simple first step towards caring for your body so that you can best care for the people who mean the most to you. Photo by Thomas Le on Unsplash  It is the time of year for dreaming big about what is to come in the next year. While I do love the “dreaming big” part, does anyone else struggle with coming off of a busy holiday season just to be expected to jump right into making big habit changes? Those changes take energy. I still haven’t recovered from December!
I think I noticed for the first time last year how God built into creation a season of rest. Every winter everything slows down. Trees stop growing. Many animals slow their metabolism so much they don’t even need to eat. It is dark much more of the day. Maybe I should take the hint and slow down my own pace a bit! Wasn’t it Jesus that said “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest”? How deeply do I feel that “weary and burdened” come January!! As a health coach, sometimes the goals that I work with clients on are less about being productive and more about being mindful and intentional. Sometimes the goals are specifically about rest and quality sleep. Sometimes they are about strengthening their spiritual foundation before they jump into their physical goals. Almost always I am helping people to take their big goals and identify the next simple step in the journey. In my private health coaching practice, I help busy Christian moms adopt simple health habits so they can love the body God gave them and have the energy to be All In for their families. If that sounds like you, use the link on this page to request my complimentary Loving the Body God Gave Me Workbook. This workbook will walk you through exploring some of what scripture says on this topic.. By the end you will have developed a simple first step towards caring for your body so that you can best care for the people who mean the most to you.  Health Coaching is a relatively new profession in the healthcare space. I find that many people don’t really understand what health coaches do.
According to the relatively new National Board that certifies Health Coaches, “Effective health coaches help clients set realistic and achievable wellness goals. They collaborate with clients to develop personalized action plans, breaking down long-term objectives into smaller, manageable steps to foster progress and success.” - NBC-HWC I like to explain it using the analogy of a road trip. Health coaches are skilled in and trained to encourage and support people who are on a health journey from where they currently find themselves to where they know they can be. Health coaches help clients to envision the possibilities with their health and chart a course to take them there. The client’s own strengths, values, and resources define the path they will take, while a coach provides evidence-based guide rails … and often some fuel for the motivational fire! In my private health coaching practice, I primarily help busy moms adopt simple, sustainable health habits so they can feel good in their bodies and have the energy to be fully present with their kids. If that sounds like you, enter your contact information on the right side of this page to request my complimentary 7 Day Energy Reboot Workbook. This workbook contains 7 days worth of simple tips and strategies to get you started on your journey toward more energy and being the calm, present person that you want to be for the people most important to you. I’ll be leading a new small group using this workbook starting October 22nd, and I will give you more information about how to join that group if you are interested. |
AuthorKatie Kolb - Health Coach Archives
September 2024
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